The Medium

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the Intel Arc B570 presents a curious case for running The Medium. Benchmark measurements show a system that can clear the 60 FPS playability threshold, but only under the most restrictive graphical conditions. Across all tested resolutions, the data reveals a consistent pattern: this combo is heavily GPU-bound, with performance collapsing as visual fidelity rises, regardless of resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the most forgiving resolution, the data shows a clear progression. With Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 78 FPS, the highest score recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop the average to 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 56 FPS. High settings further reduce the average to 35 FPS, and Ultra settings bring the average down to 28 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is substantial—a 29 FPS drop—indicating that the jump in graphical load disproportionately taxes the GPU at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings produce an average of 66 FPS, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings see the average fall to 41 FPS, with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. High settings yield 29 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 23 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium here is 25 FPS, slightly less than at 1080p, but the relative performance loss is similar. At 3840x2160, the situation worsens significantly. Low settings average 52 FPS, which is below the playable threshold. Medium settings average 32 FPS, with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 37 FPS. High settings average 23 FPS, and Ultra settings average just 18 FPS. Notably, the 4K Low setting (52 FPS) outperforms the 1440p High setting (29 FPS) and the 1080p Ultra setting (28 FPS), emphasizing that resolution scaling is less punishing than preset scaling for this hardware.

The minimum and maximum FPS data points, available only for Medium settings, show tight ranges: 41-56 FPS at 1080p, 35-47 FPS at 1440p, and 27-37 FPS at 4K. These ranges suggest stability within a given frame time, but the averages themselves are too low for smooth gameplay at Medium. The absence of min/max data for other presets limits deeper analysis of frame pacing, but the averages alone tell a consistent story of diminishing returns as settings increase.

Best Settings per Resolution

The verdict data is unambiguous about which settings achieve 60 FPS. At 1920x1080, the only playable setting is Low, with an average of 78 FPS. This is the single best result for this combo, clearing the threshold by 18 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low is again the sole playable option, averaging 66 FPS—a slim 6 FPS margin above the playability line. At 3840x2160, no settings are playable; the highest average is 52 FPS on Low, which falls 8 FPS short of the threshold.

These results indicate that this hardware configuration cannot sustain 60 FPS at any preset above Low, even at 1080p. The jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 29 FPS at 1080p and 25 FPS at 1440p, making Medium unviable across the board. For users targeting 60 FPS, the choice is binary: accept Low settings or lower the resolution below 1080p (which was not tested). The data suggests that a hypothetical 720p Low setting might yield higher FPS, but no such measurement exists to confirm this.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals that the GPU is the dominant bottleneck. Consider the FPS at Low settings: 78 FPS at 1080p, 66 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 12 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K is another 14 FPS. This progressive decline with increasing pixel count is classic GPU-bound behavior, where the rendering workload scales with resolution while the CPU workload remains relatively constant.

Preset scaling reinforces this conclusion. At 1080p, raising settings from Low to Ultra cuts FPS from 78 to 28—a 64% reduction. At 1440p, the same change drops FPS from 66 to 23—a 65% reduction. At 4K, it goes from 52 to 18—a 65% reduction. The consistency of this percentage across resolutions indicates that the GPU's shading, texture, and post-processing work is the limiting factor, not the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with draw calls or physics updates.

The Intel Core i5-14600KF, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, is unlikely to be the constraint here. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32544 and single-core score of 4594 place it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals—such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 with a 0.3% delta—suggest ample headroom for gaming workloads. The Arc B570, by contrast, sits in the 65th percentile of GPUs with a Passmark G3D score of 14195, which is more modest. The data implies that upgrading the GPU would yield larger FPS gains than upgrading the CPU, particularly at higher settings where the GPU's 10 GB of GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth become more stressed.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run The Medium at 60 FPS on High settings?

A: No. At no tested resolution does High settings reach 60 FPS. The best High result is 35 FPS at 1920x1080, with 29 FPS at 2560x1440 and 23 FPS at 3840x2160.

Q: What is the highest playable setting at 1080p?

A: Low is the only playable setting at 1920x1080, averaging 78 FPS. Medium settings average 49 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this combo?

A: No, not at playable frame rates. The best 4K result is 52 FPS on Low settings, which misses the 60 FPS target. All other 4K presets average between 18 and 32 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost going from Low to Medium at 1440p?

A: The average FPS drops from 66 to 41, a loss of 25 FPS. This is a 38% reduction in performance, making Medium unplayable despite Low being viable.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU bottleneck this game more?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. FPS scales consistently with resolution and settings, while the CPU's high benchmark scores (90th percentile) suggest it has ample headroom. The GPU's 65th percentile ranking aligns with the observed performance limits.

Q: What is this combo's rank among tested systems?

A: It ranks 2999 out of 3724 tested combos, placing it in the lower 20% of systems for this game.

The Verdict

This PC can run The Medium, but only with significant compromises. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers 78 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS playability threshold. At 2560x1440 with Low settings, it achieves 66 FPS, which is playable but with a slim margin. At 3840x2160, no settings achieve 60 FPS; the best case is 52 FPS on Low, which is below the playable threshold. The data clearly indicates that this system is not suitable for high-fidelity or high-resolution gaming in this title. Users must choose between resolution and visual quality, and even then, they are limited to the lowest preset. The 60 FPS target is met only at Low settings on 1080p and 1440p, with no headroom for higher graphical demands.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 3724 tested hardware combinations, this pairing ranks 2999th for The Medium. This places it in the bottom 20% of systems, which aligns with the FPS data showing playability only at the lowest settings. The rank reflects a combination that is underpowered for the game's demands, despite the CPU's strong standalone performance. The GPU's mid-tier standing appears to drag the overall result down, as the system's best-case FPS (78 at 1080p Low) is modest compared to what higher-ranked combos would likely achieve. For context, the rank suggests that most other tested systems can run the game at higher settings or resolutions, making this combo a weaker option for this specific title.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU's nearest rivals offer insight into comparable system behavior. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 has an average benchmark score 0.3% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G is 0.4% higher, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is 0.8% higher. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 is 0.8% lower. These deltas are minuscule, meaning any of these CPUs would likely produce nearly identical FPS results in The Medium when paired with the same GPU. The bottleneck is the GPU, so swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would not meaningfully change the playability verdict.

For the GPU, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher average score), the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4% higher), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (0.5% lower). These GPUs would perform almost identically to the Arc B570 in this game, meaning the same limitations would apply: playable only at Low settings on 1080p and 1440p, with no 4K playability. The Arc A750, in particular, is a direct peer from the same manufacturer, suggesting that users seeking similar behavior could expect the same FPS ranges. None of these alternatives would push the system past the 60 FPS threshold at Medium or higher settings, reinforcing that the GPU tier—not the specific model—is the limiting factor.